The Weeping Woman
Although
several variations exist, the basic story tells of a beautiful woman by the
name of Maria who drowns her children in order to be with the man that she
loved. The man would not have her, which devastated her. She would not take no
for an answer, so she drowned herself in a lake in Mexico city. Challenged at
the gates of heaven as to the whereabouts of her children, she is not permitted
to enter the afterlife until she has found them.
Maria is forced to wander the
Earth for all eternity, searching in vain for her drowned offspring, with her
constant weeping giving her the name "La Llorona". She is trapped in
between the living world and the spirit world.
In
some versions of this tale and legend, La Llorona will kidnap wandering
children who resemble her missing children, or children who disobey their
parents. People who claim to have seen her say she appears at night or in the
late evenings from rivers or oceans in Mexico. Some believe that those who hear
the wails of La Llorona are marked for death, similar to the Gaelic banshee
legend. She is said to cry, "Ay mis hijos!" which translates to,
"Oh, my children!"
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